Tag: brexit

Brexit trade delusions show why Britain needs to confront its history of empire By Rahul Verma

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15 June 2019 — Global Justice Now

Edward Duncan’s painting of the East India Company iron steam ship Nemesis destroying Chinese war junks in Anson’s Bay, 1843 | Credit: National Maritime Museum, London

On 7 December, 2016, nearly six months after the referendum, Prime Minister Theresa May gave a speech to the Gulf Cooperation Council in Bahrain. She said: “As Britain leaves the European Union so we intend to take a leap forward, to look outwards and seek to become the most committed and most passionate advocate of free trade in the world.”

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Campaigners Launch Legal Challenge over UK’s ‘Secret Trade Talks’ with United States

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14 June 2019 — Global Research – Global Justice Now

Global Justice Now has launched a legal challenge at the Information Rights Tribunal over the Department for International Trade’s failure to release details of numerous trade meetings it has held with the United States and other countries since the EU referendum in 2016.

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Britain: Labour victory in Peterborough silences the cynics By Joe Attard

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11 June 2019 — In Defence of Marxism

Image: Socialist Appeal (UK)

The Labour right wing were fully expecting and hoping for the party to lose a key by-election in Peterborough last week. This constituency voted strongly to leave the European Union, and the press had hyped up Nigel Farage’s right-wing Brexit Party, which everybody expected to win the seat. This would’ve given a boost to the Blairite plotters and Farage’s hard-Brexiteer outfit. But on the day, Labour defied expectations and won with an increased majority. Originally published at Socialist Appeal on 7 June.

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Zizek: Only a pan-European left can defeat ‘populism’

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6 June 2019 — RT

Slavoj ZizekSlavoj Zizek is a cultural philosopher. He’s a senior researcher at the Institute for Sociology and Philosophy at the University of Ljubljana and Global Distinguished Professor of German at New York University.

After last week’s European Parliament elections has everything changed or has absolutely nothing changed?

There were some spectacular details, such as the crushing defeat of both main parties in the United Kingdom. However, these should not blind us to the basic fact that nothing really big and surprising happened. Yes, the populist new right did make progress, but it remains far from a prevailing trend.

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Britain: lessons of the European elections – general election the only way forward By Rob Sewell

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28 May 2019 — In Defence of Marxism

[Not a bad analysis except for its ambivalence over the role of the Labour Party in Labour’s debacle in the Euro elections but you be judge. WB]

As expected, the European elections saw a huge victory for the Brexit Party, which took 32 percent of the vote in Britain. This clearly reflects the frustrations of many people about the paralysis in Parliament and the failure of politicians to agree on a path for Britain’s departure from the EU.

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European election debacle for Conservatives and Labour By Robert Stevens

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28 May 2019 — WSWS

The ruling Conservatives have suffered their worst ever election result, while Labour suffered a debacle almost as bad.

Coming fifth nationwide with just 9 percent of the vote and taking just three seats, the Tories were eviscerated, suffering the largest ever loss since the party was founded in 1834. Their previous worst national performance was in the 2014 European election when they received just 24 percent, more than double that just recorded.

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Britain: Theresa May resignation – let’s kick out the rest of the Tories! By Adam Booth

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24 May 2019 — In Defence of Marxism

[This is quite a good summation of the mess the British ruling class have got themselves into over the Brexit BS as it exposes the undercurrent of reaction at the heart of British capitalism. WB]

Image: EU2017EE

After three years of can kicking, Theresa May has finally run out of road. Giving a teary-eyed speech in front of Number 10 this morning, the Prime Minister announced that she would step down on 7 June. The race to succeed her will begin the following week. Then the fireworks will really begin.
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Conservative Party implodes over Brexit crisis as May agrees to stand down next month By Robert Stevens

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18 May 2019 — WSWS

UK Prime Minister Theresa May is set to stand down as Tory party leader and prime minister after her European Union Withdrawal Agreement Bill goes before Parliament in the first week of June. Since May reached a deal with the EU in November, she has been unable to secure agreement from a deeply divided parliament.

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UK: Government of Denial: Crisis? What Crisis?

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15 May 2019 — True Publica

Robert Woodward – TruePublica contributing editor: Looking at the Conservative party as it is right now, it would be easy to believe they are of a different species, who speak a different language, who came from a different world – a different dimension even. Every day a new statistic of our failing nation feels more like the opening of festering wounds, the result of a banking-led crisis in 2008, itself the making of failed and weak politicians who caved into the lobbying practices of the most corrupt in corporate power. ‘Old Blighty’ now seems like a good term, for Britain is now so badly damaged, so blighted in almost every metric of well-being that society’s life-blood is literally draining away in front of our very eyes. And irrespective of your stance on the big issue of the day, Brexit is the result of politicians by the politicians but for the country, it is like Britain has had its throat slit.

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UK Constitution Committee: Brexit Trade Deals “keeping public in the dark” and “fundamentally undemocratic”

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10 May 2019 — True Publica

UK Constitution Committee: Brexit Trade Deals "keeping public in the dark" and "fundamentally undemocratic"

TruePublica Editor: We have consistently said since the EU referendum result that Brexit will begin a new era of deregulation as American style neoliberal capitalism goes for its last hurrah, the result being that disaster capitalism will dominate for another generation. Campaigners for Brexit rode on a ticket of immigration, ‘taking back control’ from ‘unelected bureaucrats’ and an unbridled new economic horizon will emerge where the sun does not set. This is the sixth report in a series from the UK Parliament’s Constitution Committee does not reflect this view in the slightest –  which has additionally slammed the government’s secretive trade deal negotiations as nothing more than “anti-democratic.” The language used by expert witnesses in these reports speak for themselves; “seriously inadequate, undemocratic, not fit for purpose, outdated, inadequate for major international agreements and so on.
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